Rangers staged the latest of late comebacks against Preston North End to salvage a point that never looked likely and was wholly undeserved. A wretched display for 89 minutes from a team that looked unbalanced from the off was destined to get what it warranted, absolutely nothing, until two late strikes crushed the visitors. 

De Canio was forced into a change with Vine suffering a broken leg in training but his selection had everybody in the ground baffled, and judging by the display, that included most of the starting XI! Camp started in goal with Mancienne, Hall, Stewart and Connolly in front of him. Leigertwood was bizarrely selected wide on the right with Rowlands and Mahon in the middle and Ephraim on the left. Blackstock and Agyemang were again partnered up top. The Leigertwood selection was made all the more baffling with the selection of Ainsworth, Balanta and Lee on the bench, all of whom could have filled that roll far more naturally. 

Rangers started the game sluggishly and were fortunate not to have fallen behind as early as the fourth minute. A bit of pinball on the edge of the box saw the ball run through to former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor. As he steadied himself Camp came darting off of his line and was able to block the shot almost at source. Camp had to save again shortly afterwards when Simon Whaley had a pot shot from just inside the box. 

The set piece delivery from the visitors was excellent all afternoon. They were always into dangerous areas, Camp claimed his fair share but from those that he couldn’t there was always the likelihood of a goal. It didn’t help that Rangers were allowing them so many opportunities to get set piece ball in with the conceding of some unnecessary corners. 

Whaley was getting some joy down the Rangers right as Mancienne was finding himself constantly outnumbered. Leigertwood was constantly on the missing list in front of him and the same could also be said for Ephraim on the left. Connolly was getting a real chasing and turned in as poor a display as I can remember since he signed. 

Agyemang was showing some good pace against his former employers. He was drifting into the left channel usually patrolled with such menace by Vine and managed to send a couple of dangerous balls into the box only to see them cleared before a team mate was able to make up the ground. 

Sean St. Ledger headed yet another good corner delivery on target but Camp claimed easily. Carter then clouted a shot wildly into the stand after some good build up play involving Whaley and Mellor. A goal was coming, Rangers hadn’t managed to achieve anything of note and Preston looked like a team bang in form.  

It was well past the half hour when Rangers managed to threaten the North End goal. Blackstock rather fortuitously ended up with the ball at his feet and with Agyemang running to his right he used that run to create space for a shot of his own. He struck the ball left footed and should have absolutely buried it but there wasn’t sufficient power and Andy Lonergan responded with a decent save. 

With Dexter feeling sorry for himself Preston charged up field and Connolly got in a right two and eight and Stewart had to come over and try and help out. Just as he was getting to the ball he slipped himself and Rangers had conceded yet another cheap corner. McKenna this time sent the ball in just as Blackstock was wandering back from up field. Youl Mawene was unchallenged at the near post as he flicked the ball on (probably because Dexter should have been picking him up) and Mellor found himself in acres of space at the far post a he coolly cracked the ball past Camp on the volley. It was a goal they away side thoroughly deserved as they had been far more enterprising than Rangers. 

As the half drew to a close Mancienne had clearly had enough of seeing the midfield in front of him doing bugger all and took matters into his own hands. He galloped through the centre circle and as the PNE defence parted in front of him he tried his luck from twenty five yards only to see his low shot fade wide of the post. It was about the first time one of our players had managed to run at the away side, something that we do in abundance when Delaney and Vine are in the side, and it caused havoc. That alone should have been enough to prompt De Canio to switch things at the break and get Leigertwood or Mahon off for a more attack minded player, but it didn’t. 

There was a change to the R’s formation at the break with the 4-4-2 replaced with 4-3-3 with Mahon holding behind Leigertwood and Rowlands and Agyemang, Blackstock and Ephraim as a front three. Preston were forced into a change at the break after Mellor tweaked a hamstring at the very end of the first half. Tamas Priskin, on loan from Watford, came on to partner Brown up front. He could have had a penalty almost immediately after Hall rattled into him but referee Penton was unmoved. 

The second half was going nowhere fast with Preston now offering little going forward and the game descending into a turgid affair. Rangers readied Balanta on the touchline and then to everybody’s amazement, Ephraim was the one to get the hook. The change seemed to unsettle the side still further and Preston had bagged their second within three minutes. 

Mancienne once again found himself marking too many men and Sedgwick sent a low ball in toward the near post. Camp should have claimed but at the moment he has harder hands than Monty Panesar and the ball deflected off of him and went in via a combination of Connolly and Priskin. The Hungarian claimed it but in truth it was an absolute mess. 

De Canio immediately changed it again and this time Mahon was taken off and Ainsworth went on. This meant a change back to 4-4-2 with Balanta playing wide left. The young Columbian was as neat and tidy as he always is and with a full first team pre season under his belt will surely have a bigger role to play next season. Ainsworth, at the other end of his career, was looking every one of his 34 years as he struggled to make any sort of impact. 

Camp made a tremendous save from Priskin after Rangers made a mess of defending another corner. The marking was all over the show all afternoon. Stewart was struggling to pick anybody up and with Delaney back on Saturday he will surely make way with Connolly moving back inside. Fitz Hall then strode forward only to drag a terrible effort well wide of the target. It just about summed the display up to this point, shocking. 

Balanta was causing the odd problem on the left and both Blackstock and Agyemang failed to make the most of his industry. As the game entered the final minute of normal time though Rangers suddenly threw themselves a lifeline. 

Rangers had started to use the ball far better by now and Rowlands was moving the ball into wide areas. Mancienne moved up on the attack and sent a low pass into Ainsworth on the edge of the area. The ball bounced up and as Ainsworth fell away he sent a sweet looping volley over Lonergan into the net. There were the usual apologetic celebrations a consolation goal usually brings but then Lonergan started pissing about, got himself booked and got everyone going. The fourth official then stuck up four minutes of stoppage time and it was game on. 

The 4-4-2 formation had now been replaced with something akin to 0-0-11 with Camp coming up for a corner and nearly paying the price. A poor delivery was cleared to Priskin and Camp faced the prospect of being beaten whilst eighty yards from his goal. Fortunately Balanta was alive to the situation and that combined with Priskin failing to get his head up meant the youngster was able to shepherd him out of play. 

Rangers immediately went back on the attack and the ball was shifted wide to Ainsworth. He cut inside Davidson and stood up a great ball to Blackstock and like the Blackstock (06/07 model) he rose to nod it past Lonergan and the roof nearly came off the place. It was harsh on the visitors, in fact harsh probably doesn’t do it justice, and scandalous is far closer to the mark! There was still time for one more Preston attack though as they won a free kick outside the box. Thankfully it was cleared and referee Penton brought proceedings to a close. 

I have long held the opinion that a last minute equaliser is far more satisfying than a last minute winner. Going from getting nothing to getting something is much better than getting something and then getting a bit more, if you see what I mean!  

If Gigi is honest with himself in the cold light of day he will see that he dropped a bollock with his initial team selection. The Leigertwood right wing experiment was madness and I very much doubt it will ever happen again. It would have been so easy to more Rowlands wide or play Balanta or Lee or Ainsworth out there. The team on a whole was disjointed and lacked fluency. If you take two players of the quality of Vine and Buzsaky out of any side in this division it will hurt them but you would hope they might cope a little better than this. 

To give them their dues, Preston were a decent side, they were helped massively by some of the Rangers play, but they took advantage and deserved to win the game. Luckily for them it doesn’t really matter that they didn’t as they are in the same boat as us, sailing in the calm waters of safety.  

Hull City next weekend will be a stern test, the return of Delaney will help, hopefully Buzsaky will be fit enough to as he was badly missed. The Tigers are flying and it would be great to go up there and put the brakes on their promotion charge. 

Man of the Match – Michael Mancienne. It really was the case of the best of a bad bunch this week. Mancienne worked hard both ways, he had precious little help defensively, right midfield was non-existent and the other three at the back were poor.

simon@qprnet.com